CW originally left GC because he was afraid of all the CGI and special effects work, he wasn't afraid he could handle it, but he spent a few weeks on location with Peter Jackson while he was filming something and learned a bunch and eventually returned and, visually speaking, created one of the most impressive special effects laden movies ever. I mean, a believable talking Polar Bear (okay okay, panserbjorne, or however you spell it, XD) I'm very hopeful he will make the special effects in Twilight light years above what they were under Hardwicke's watch.

It didn't help that the original version of his story was butchered by having scenes entirely thrown onto the editing room floor, taken out of order, edited to mask details of the set, and completely restructured. Parts of the original movie can be seen as videos in the official video game and also in the trailer, but as of yet they have no restored the original ending (which was entirely cut off thanks to it confusing stupid test audiences), nor have they restored the original scenes. In the the book it goes like this: lyra is captured and taken to Goblers, then she escapes and while traveling north falls out of the air balloon and into the bears hands. after restoring iorek as king of the bears, she goes to her fathers and eventually she is separated from iorek while crossing a narrow ice bridge to save her friend roger. in the movie version they lopped the entire ending off, so they took the ice bridge sequence, changed it to day using digital filters, then flipped the order of events so it goes like this. she gets captured, they take her to the *bears* (this makes NO SENSE), she helps iorek become king (in a much cleaner version of the battle, no heart eating), then while walking with iorek gets seperated at an ice bridge (taken from end) and wanderes in alone to the gobler's hideout. then they re-edited the original footage to look like it was the true end when in reality she falls out of the air balloon during that scene as it occurred much earlier.

all of this was New Line's execs editing against Chris's will and considering it takes up a good half the movie, is the reason why most found it confusing, rushed, and trash. the seperation at the bridge has a lot of emotional impact in the original order when placed in sequence, in the movie it just seems oddly sentimental and awkward. Chris fought and fought to have the original book version released, but when the movie didn't do well domestically, the studio pretty much blamed him and its a closed book (although it made over 300 million from foreign sales and is considered a huge success in the foreign market).

as for what this means for New Moon....

as long as Summit plays nice and allows Chris to weave his vision I can't help but shake with anticipation at what we will see. Visually, the first movie was amazingly appealing, and I read that that was largely due to the director of photography's vision and not Hardwicke's. So combining her and Chris.....I can't help but smile....so Summit, I just hope they stay quiet and let the people do the job's they were hired for

Thank you SO much for the lovely post. I just watched The Golden Compass for the first time and I was really, really confused. This cleared a lot up for me, and the movie itself left me more excited than ever to see what Chris can do with our world.

whoaa. really???? I know CW wrote the script and directed the GC film, but I didn't know that the terrible end result --- script wise --- was because of New Line's execs meddling . If it's true (as you said) that CW's script and vision were actually faithful to the book, then I'm badly mistaken for blaming CW for the disappointing GC film.

wow. If what you said about CW and the GC film really are true and not gossip (let's face it, we read a lot of gossip, even for NM, which is why we're all confused and arguing in circles. lol) then I have renewed hope for NM. I'm still cautiously optimistic but hey, that's good ---- at least I'm optimistic about NM now

PS. sorry for all the acronyms...but you all get it anyways haha

Thnx for the awesome banner NIKKI/stellar87! Team ROBWARD.But I get dibs on Taylor's abs! slut.. skank.. slut.. skank.. turtle..

no, haha, I understand your skeptical optimism. I followed the GC film adaptation for years before anything was officially announced, from the day they announced the film version, through casting (I was so excited they got nicole kidman), all the way through production. There was a *lot* of official coverage, interviews, etc etc, and most of it wasn't just speculation because we have finished GC film goods that confirm what happened on top of all the accounts. CW in inteviews before/around/even after the film was honest about the studio taking control, although he carefully worded it so he made it sound positive up until the film was out. There was a huge outcry about the studio taking off the ending (they said they would put it on the start of the second movie to fit the flow better, which makes almost zero sense in the long run, but fans shut up hopeful that suddenly there was something to confirm a second movie...end all be all, it never happened), but in the official movie book there is trivia concerning the original sequence of events, the deleted scenes can be seen in the trailer (you can see lyra fall out of the air balloon during the cliff ghast attack and lord asriel splitting the sky open at the end of the book), as well as the video game.

nothing was more disappointing than following that film adaption and watching it sink under the studio's own hand. truthfully, I do not know Summit, but the age of LotR epic fantasies ended with Golden Compass in a way. Moviegoers are just not spending money on tickets anymore...Twilight pulling in as much as it did was a huge success and I'm while they will increase the budget, it will still be modest compared to movies like Harry Potter. But at the end of the day, does anyone want a souped up cgi-laden action fest? What drew me to Twilight universe was the first movie and the story within, largely based on what Bella was going through and the love story....sure, the running looked a bit silly, but you don't need to spend 100 million to create the fact of running fast. They should have done it in charater point of view by speeding up a hand held camera running through the woods rather than from third person.

going back to how they could express the time lapse, I think it would be brilliant to handle it like the book but express it with nature. if they ended with bella on her floor, they could pan down through the floor, to the floor below with charlie looking up towards bella concerned, down through the dirt in the floor, which turns to snow and and eventually a snowy Forks flashing the text "three months later" or "january" etc and flash back to bella face down, only on her bed, waking up in a daze for school like a zombie. it would express how nothing has changed over the course of time. Although that sounds a bit unconventional perhaps....also, if they have a really slow fade to black when she hits the flow and a slightly extended darkness before the next image pops up with the text "january" it would really add dramatic tensity, I've noticed that in other films.

kuro_neko wrote:going back to how they could express the time lapse, I think it would be brilliant to handle it like the book but express it with nature.

Brilliant idea! I loved how they this this same thing on Notting Hill while Hugh grant is walking through the same street and goes through rain, snow, wind, sunshine, etc.It looked amazing and conveyed the passing of months beautifully.

Weitz seems like an alright guy to me - I really like the letter he wrote to all the fans. At least he seems like he's going to take care of the books. And Steph is excited about it... so all will hopefully turn out alright.

As far as GC... I actually wrote a bunch of papers in college on the books, and when I saw the movie I really just wanted to walk out. They took out all the stuff that the movie was actually all about. But then I did some research and found out that it was pretty much all studio decisions. So CW really had nothing to do with it, right? (if I'm mistaken, someone please correct me! ) I have About A Boy at home from Netflix, so I'll be watching that tonight to see what I think.

I think it's all going to be okay... I will miss CH though - she had such passion!

One thing, if they absolutely HAVE to show Edward's pain...I really wish Stephenie would write that part. I have no doubt that she knows exactly what Edward was doing during that time. It might be a little like watching a bit of Midnight Sun on film. If MR writes it....I bet it will be lame.

well I'm positive CW would go to SM, he was constantly going to Philip Pullman for GC and Philip Pullman has nothing to say but extraordinary things with working with him (despite making it clear that the books and the movie are separate things).

I really wish they don't edward, mainly because it will make us feel less annoyed at bella if we can feel what she feels. If we know what edward is going through while bella is all zombie-ed out, we won't identify with her.

if they dooooo put it in there, I'm sure it will just be a total wank fest, like bella being a zombie, edward being all moody and wanker-ish, it would just be too much angst for one movie hahah. and everyone knows that Twilight-haters do not need another reason to claim the saga is nothing but an angst-fest haha.

well I'm positive CW would go to SM, he was constantly going to Philip Pullman for GC and Philip Pullman has nothing to say but extraordinary things with working with him (despite making it clear that the books and the movie are separate things).

I really wish they don't edward, mainly because it will make us feel less annoyed at bella if we can feel what she feels. If we know what edward is going through while bella is all zombie-ed out, we won't identify with her.

if they dooooo put it in there, I'm sure it will just be a total wank fest, like bella being a zombie, edward being all moody and wanker-ish, it would just be too much angst for one movie hahah. and everyone knows that Twilight-haters do not need another reason to claim the saga is nothing but an angst-fest haha.

hahha "wank fest". That made me laugh out loud . And you're right, nonTwilights or haters do not need another reason to bash the movie

Thnx for the awesome banner NIKKI/stellar87! Team ROBWARD.But I get dibs on Taylor's abs! slut.. skank.. slut.. skank.. turtle..